Afternoon Session
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day three hundred and fifty-seven: After Will walks out, Terri starts seeing a therapist... and a song.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 16th cycle. Now cycle 17!_

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**"Afternoon Session"  
Terri, Terri/Will  
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**"Stay With Me (Baby)" - Duffy, Soundtrack to Pirate Radio **

It had taken time for her to start even thinking of what she'd do of herself, after Will had found out her secret and he'd walked out the door. For the first few hours and through that night, she had felt as though she'd suddenly reverted to her teenage self. That was who she'd been, before Will…

But then she'd woken up the next morning, made breakfast, and she had sat at the kitchen table. And there, in the heavy silence, she'd made her decision… she needed to make a chance. She wanted him back, needed him back. And the only way she knew to make that happen at the moment was to seek help… professional help… therapy.

She got Dr. Brannagh's number from Kendra's husband, Phil, under strict instruction that she wasn't to breathe a word of it to her sister. Her first appointment was on a Tuesday afternoon, since she had that time off. The waiting room felt more like an observation deck. She realized they were all there because they had problems, but it was still so very uncomfortable. She hid her nose in her magazine until her name was called, at which time she hurried along with her head down.

The office felt very static. The couch was a draw though… It was just like she'd imagined a therapist's couch was going to be. She sat, folding her hands in her lap as she looked to Dr. Brannagh. In his younger days, she could see his hair would have been a bright ginger mane. His face looked like he'd done his share of listening and his enthusiasm had taken a step back or two. She gave an uncertain smile before being told to start explaining what brought her there. Terri sighed, her thumbs fidgeting. Invited to it, she laid down on the couch, staring up at the ceiling.

"I did something… some things… All I wanted was to hang on to my husband, but instead, I lost him…" she frowned to herself, her face lowering back into regret. "I knew it was wrong, and I wanted to come clean to him for so long, but I didn't… Why didn't I tell him, we could have…" her voice trailed off.

She had grown quiet, lost in her mind. Realizing she hadn't heard a peep out of Dr. Brannagh, she turned her head to look, but she couldn't see over the top of the couch. Sitting up, she figured out the appeal of the couch – to him: It hid the fact he wasn't paying attention. Terri sighed, lying back on the couch. She wasn't even going to bother clearing her throat or doing a thing to make him get back to her. Just being there, for this one first time, it was enough. She wasn't exactly comfortable being there yet, so this was good… maybe that was his plan, leaving her to her own thoughts, finding her ease. She stared at the ceiling, felt lulled away from her nerves… It took a beat before the notes she was hearing to grow in volume. It wasn't a radio, wasn't anywhere but in her head… the notes, the words… they were everywhere with her, first on that couch…

_[T] "Where did you go, when things went wrong, baby / Who did you run to; / find a shoulder to lay your head upon / Ooh wasn't I there, didn't I take good care of you / Oh no I can't believe, you're leaving me _

_Stay, Stay With Me Baby, / Stay With Me Baby, / Please Stay With Me Baby, / I can't go on"_

Everywhere she went, places he'd been with her so many times, places where she now had to go on her own… the loneliness and all of those other feelings, they resonated in her head like the song. She had dinner at her sister's, and the chaos of the triplets had no power over her, she was lost in thought, looking at the empty chair, bare table setting… where Will would have been eating his chicken dinner…

_[T] "Where did you go, in search of tenderness? / Didn't I give you everything in return for a memory? / Ooh wasn't I there. Baby, I, maybe I was too good for you / Oh no, I can't believe, you're leaving me _

_Stay With Me Baby, / Stay With Me Baby, / Please Stay With Me Baby"_

Even at work, she'd stand there sometimes with ghost expectations that he'd drop by, bring her a sandwich or something… She tried to focus on the customers, because it was easier than thinking about the rest of her life, but day after day Sheets 'N Things seemed hell bent on revealing him and their former life to her. Happy couples, parents and children… glorious-haired delivery man… She just turned back to her song, her place for solace.

_[T] "Oh remember, you said you'd never leave me / Oh remember, you said you'd always need me / Remember, Remember / I'm asking you, begging you, begging you"_

She had no home anymore… It was him, he'd been it and she had screwed it up. She hadn't realized it until he wasn't there anymore, how much he made her world more than a choreographed routine, set to take her from getting out of and back into bed, on repeat… Now she saw… wasted times, where she'd chosen to ignore him, because she just thought there was all the time in the world.

_[T] "Ooh Stay with Me Baby, / Please Stay With Me Baby, / Oh please stay with me baby / I just can't go on / No stay, stay / I'll stay, stay, don't go / Stay with me baby / You know I Can't go on, / I need you so, I need you so stay, please, stay"_

She continued to see Dr. Brannagh, who indeed began speaking, listening. And she found her level of ease grew with each visit. If she could progress, that was all she wanted…

That was what she needed, why she was there in the first place. She wanted to be better, so maybe Will would look at her again, the way he used to, not the way he had on the night he'd walked out. She missed that face, that joy… Pictures wouldn't do it justice, there was just something in his energy… she needed that again. And if she had to open up and share parts of herself she wanted to keep private with Dr. Brannagh, then she'd do it. She wanted her husband back, she wanted her life back, the one she'd mistakenly believed so dull before…

THE END

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**_[A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, story alert won't get you anything! ;)]_**


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